Era of Reforms

The Second Great Awakening

• Revival of religious feeling
• Differed from the 1st by introducing the idea that everyone could be forgiven for their sin –
• Free will rather than predestination - doing good deeds could help you gain salvation
• Helped jump start reform movement
• Americans believed they could act to make things better

Early Education in America

• Early Schools
• Short-term schools from the colonial era
• 10-12 weeks per year
• Provided basic instruction
• Charged a fee along with community funding
• Preferred teaching white boys
• Schooling was costly and religiously based
• was designed for the privileged
• Parents were considered the primary educators
• Families relied on each other and churches for additional learning

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Education Reform

• The leaders of the Second Great Awakening preached that their followers had a sacred responsibility to improve life on earth.
• One of the most popular reform movements was in the field of education.
• There were no public schools that children were required by law to attend, most children did not go to school.
• The Public School Movement sought to establish a system of tax-supported public schools.

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Reforming Education

• Reformers argued that INFORMED CITIZENS were needed for our republican GOVERNMENT TO THRIVE
• Workers wanted their children to have a chance to pursue the “American dream”
• Horace Mann promoted PUBLIC SCHOOLS as the only way to EQUALIZE SOCIETY
• He argued that it was impossible that educated people could remain permanently poor

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Horace Mann

• Horace Mann argued for:
• Adequate school funding
• State oversight of local schools
• Standardized school calendars
• Abolishment of physical punishment
• Establishment of well-educated, professional teachers.
• Government-supported public schools became the norm across the nation.
• The percentage of American children attending school doubled.

Early Public Schools

• Despite reformers efforts, public school conditions were poor:
• Lacked funding, books, and equipment
• Teachers were poorly paid and often poorly prepared
• Kids that went beyond the elementary grades went to private academies
• Public schools did not become well established until after the Civil War

The Fight Against Slavery

• Many northerners objected to slavery on moral grounds.
• By 1804, all states north of Maryland had passed legislation to end slavery.
• The Atlantic Slave trade was outlawed in 1808
• Unfortunatly the Industrial Revolution and the invention of the cotton gin made both the North and the South dependent on slavery
• A growing number of Americans opposed to slavery began to speak out and wanted slavery abolished, or ended, so they became known as abolitionists.

Women in the 1800’s

• The Industrial Revolution changed the economy
• The growing middle class created new but different roles (jobs) for men and women
• Men went to work and women stayed at home
• Women's Rights
• Could not go to college, vote or hold most professional jobs
• Had no control over their children or property
• Needed husband’s permission to make a will, sign a contract, or file a lawsuit

Women’s Rights – Fighting for others

• Their involvement in the antislavery movement and other reform movements gave women roles outside their homes and families.
• They learned valuable skills, such as organizing, working together, and speaking public. (Note: it was considered “unfeminine” to speak in public!)

World Anti-Slavery Convention

• In 1840, many wealthy American women attended the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London
• However, women we not allowed to participate in the discussions and were forced to listen from behind a curtain
• They realized that they could not bring about social change if they themselves lacked social and political rights.
• This led to women's involvement in suffrage reform – the right to vote

The Seneca Falls Convention

• Two female reformers, Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, decided it was time to stand up for women’s rights
• On July 19, 1848, the first women’s rights convention opened in Seneca Falls, New York.
• Both male and female delegates attended the convention.

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Seneca Falls

• The women wrote a document modeled after the Declaration of Independence stating, “all men and women are created equal.”
• It went over a list of complaints and ended with a demand for suffrage, or the right to vote
• The movement was ridiculed and the demand for suffrage was ignored
• BUT women did gain more rights when it came to property and wages

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Legacy of the Movement

• Seneca Falls helped create an organized campaign for women’s rights
• Reformers made slow progress
• New York gave women control over property and wages
• Massachusetts and Indiana passed more liberal divorce laws
• Some women began their own businesses
• However, women’s suffrage took decades
• 19th Amendment passed in 1920
• Only one woman present at the convention lived to vote